As the number of electrical components in the doors of the vehicle have increased, the number of wires for transmitting the electrical system have likewise increased. This has resulted in a relatively large bundle of individual wires, particularly for the front doors and even more particularly for the driver's door, each of which wires needed to be interconnected between the doors and the main body of the motor vehicle. Additionally, it has added to the number of wires that must be run in the door itself and appropriately interconnected.
Such systems for the front door on the driver's side having a substantial number of electrical components including, for example, powered door locks, power windows, powered side rear-view mirrors, lighted key door locks, door curb lights, audio speakers, seat positioning controls, etc. have involved, for example, twenty-four or fifty-three or perhaps even in excess of eighty or more separate wires in non-multiplexed systems. This relatively large number of wires were bundled together to form a relative large diameter bundle which was snaked from an opening in the "A" pillar of the vehicle body into the proximal edge of the door frame.
Such wiring bundles have been relatively difficult to handle, relatively expensive and required special routing in order to avoid over-stressing or undue flexing of the wire bundle, which could damage and break one or more of the individual wires within the bundle, particularly those in the outer areas of the bundle.
For a separate, wiring solution to this problem, reference is had to assignee's co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/191,089, of J. Wright, filed on even date herewith, entitled "Electrical Planar Cable Interconnection Between Automotive Door and Body", the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
Additionally, the wiring aspects and electronic module aspects of the present invention lend themselves well for use in association with modular door panel sub-assemblies. With respect to such a sub-assembly approach and for further information on exemplary modular door panel sub-assembly operations and structures, reference is had to assignee's co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 06/097,555 of R. Basson et al, filed Sept. 15, 1987, entitled "Modular Trim Panel Unit For Motor Vehicle Doors," the disclosure of which also is incorporated herein by reference.
Multiplexing systems for automotive use for controlling and/or powering various electrical components in various locations within a car or other vehicle, including the doors, have been in use for some time, and these have had some tendency to cut down on the number of wires across the hinge gap. Some such systems have also included one or more remote multiplexing or "remux" units associated with a main multiplexing unit in the vehicle body. However, these prior art approaches still have not been totally satisfactory in, for example, the number of wires that still have to be run, for example, in the doors.